The invention relates generally to waxes, and, in particular, to synthetic waxes.
Natural waxes, such as for example Candelilla and Carnauba wax, have long been employed in cosmetic products such as lipstick and polish formulations for leather goods, furniture, and automotive applications. Other applications for natural waxes include, for example, electric insulating compositions, carbon paper and paint removers, inks, wood finishes and a variety of industrial coatings.
With respect to polishing formulations, the main attribute of natural waxes which has accounted for their use, to the exclusion of synthetic waxes, is their high softening point or temperature. As used herein, the phrase “softening point” or “softening temperature” is understood to mean the temperature at which a given wax first begins to soften or melt on a surface. In polishing formulations, and in particular automotive polishes, the ability to withstand high temperature is critical to consumer acceptance. Failure to do so leaves the polished surface susceptible to visual imperfections such as fingerprints and various marks left by objects, such as leaves and dirt, impacting the polished surface.
Despite their high softening temperatures, there are disadvantages to the use of natural waxes in the previously mentioned applications. The production of natural waxes depends on the success of the crop for a particular season, and in consequence, natural waxes are susceptible to wide price fluctuations.
Natural waxes also suffer from the inability to maintain consistency in their chemical composition and/or their physical or rheological properties. This lack of consistency is attributable to the fact that natural waxes are harvested from a variety of farms. Even with a natural wax harvested from the same farm, year to year variations can contribute to a difference in softening temperature being as large as 5° F. These fluctuations often lead to a lack of uniform performance characteristics in the products which utilize the natural waxes.
In order to overcome this problem, natural wax producers will purchase the wax from a number of different farmers and blend the waxes from the disparate sources in order to achieve uniform physical and chemical characteristics, the two most important characteristics being the softening point and the melt viscosity. This blending procedure is in large part dictated by trial and error and is labor intensive, resulting in increased costs, which are subsequently passed onto the natural wax purchasers.
Heretofore, attempts have been made to produce a synthetic wax having a softening temperature approximating the softening temperature of natural waxes. These attempts have been largely unsuccessful. The currently available synthetic waxes that do approximate the softening point of natural waxes do not exhibit other physical and chemical characteristics required by the end use applications, such as, for example, its ability to be formulated, or to buffed to produce a high gloss.
Therefore, there exists a need for a synthetic wax having a softening point which approximates, or exceeds, those of natural waxes, is consistent in its physical and chemical properties and exhibits those characteristics mandated by the end use applications, such as, for example, automotive polishes or cosmetic products.